INDONESIA

Harassing the Local Community: G4S at Freeport and Kelian

Providing security at Freeport McMoRan’s Grasberg mine in Papua is a bloody business. Freeport’s millions of dollars in security payments to individuals and institutions in the notorious Indonesian military have drawn scrutiny from investors, The New York Times, and international NGOs like Global Witness. Violence between the people protecting the mine and local indigenous communities erupts regularly into the Indonesian and international media. American and Indonesian Freeport staff, Indonesian police, and local Papuans have all been killed in a conflict that dates back to the 1970s. Both the Indonesian military and private security guards have been accused by human rights activists of being complicit in killings, torture, and other abuses during this period.

What is less well-known is that Securicor Indonesia has long provided security at the Grasberg mine. Securicor workers report that they were repeatedly flown to Papua to provide security at the mine for six-week stints. Foreigners’ access to Papua, and particularly the area around the Freeport mine, is extremely restricted. This veil of secrecy makes it difficult to know to what extent Securicor is involved in the human rights violations for which Freeport is so notorious.

The December 2005 issue of G4S International brags of Group 4 Securicor’s presence at several mines in conflict areas, including diamond mines in Sierra Leone and Rio Tinto’s Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM) facility in Borneo, Indonesia. From the opening of the KEM mine until its recent closing, strife with the local indigenous Dayak community led to accusations of human rights violations from Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights and international human rights organizations.

If you have information about Group 4 Securicor’s activities at Freeport, or other sites known for human rights violations, contact us.